You’d have to be under a rock to miss this, but just in case, here are some links:

• State Dept to Jimmy Carter: Don’t Meet with Hamas

• Obama declines to criticize Carter on Hamas

• Carter Defends Upcoming Meeting With Hamas in Syria

• ABC News interview with Dhimmi Carter

• Jimmy Carter Gets Cold Reception in Israel

• Hamas terrorists join Jimmy Carter fan club
  Top political adviser calls ex-prez ‘noble person who can achieve something no one else can’

• Israel snubs Carter and declines security help

Honestly, I’m not surprised that Israel would be upset about Carter visiting the Hamas leadership. I also think that anyone who wants to discuss peace with a terrorist organization shouldn’t expect that organizations enemies to back him up. There are, however, a few things that concern me:

1) From the Reuters article:

Another source described the snub as an “unprecedented” breach between the Israeli Shin Bet and the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States.

Carter included the southern Israeli town of Sderot on his itinerary. The area is often hit by rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and one of the sources described the lack of Shin Bet assistance there as particularly “problematic”.

Is this crazy old man causing tension between Israel and the U.S.? If so, and he’s not an official U.S. representative, whose behalf is he acting on? What’s his motivation?

2) Though only a minor side story in this whole thing, Barack Obama’s lack of condemnation shows which side of the fence he’s on. I only hope voters are paying attention.